Prague, Czech Republic – A police investigation has been launched after a bodyguard of Andrej Babis accidentally fired his service gun on the plane carrying the Czech Prime Minister.

Accidental shot fired in plane carrying Prime Minister Andrej Babis

On Tuesday evening, a shot was fired in the plane carrying Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis from Brussels, where he attended an informal EU summit with European heads of state and government, to Prague. According to local reports, the shot was fired before take-off, while the aircraft was still on Brussels airport’s tarmac.

“We can confirm an accidental shot during a gun check aboard a government plane”, Czech national police spokeswoman Lenka Sikorova told AFP reporters.

The gun shot came from the service pistol of a police officer in charge of the Prime Minister’s security. No one was injured, and the bullet reportedly ended its course in one of the plane’s meal carts, according to Aktualne.cz.

Carrying 22 people on-board, the governmental plane left one hour late in order for the crew to check that no damage had been inflicted on the aircraft.

Drastic security measures

Police officers have to go through drastic security measures before boarding a government plane: before take-off, security agents must always hand over their weapons to the captain, who then keeps them locked in the cockpit during the flight.

Security agents must also show that the guns aren’t loaded by pulling the trigger on an empty chamber, according to Radio Prague. The police officer in question, however, appears to have failed to make sure his gun was, indeed, empty before firing his service pistol.

Czech police inspectorate launches investigation

The Czech General Inspection of Security Forces (GIBS), in charge of investigating the misconduct of police and other state security services, launched an investigation to determine the exact causes of the incident that occurred in the plane carrying Prime Minister Babis.

This isn’t the first time a similar incident occurs: in 1994, a bodyguard of then-Czech Defense Minister Antonin Baudys also accidentally fired his service gun during a Sweden-bound flight. Instead of hitting a diner cart, however, this one hit a fuel tank…